Too Cute: Tetsu and Takako Edition
by PinkCardigan
Summary: Collection of short stories, oneshots, drabbles and AUs all about Seidou's airhead captain Yuuki Tetsuya and his competent manager Fujiwara Takako. Prompts welcome!
1. 3 Drabbles

**Disclaimer: Do not own.**

**Three separate 200-word drabbles - Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oi, watch where you're going…You're gonna hurt someone. Or worse, bruise the inventory."

Tetsu groaned, laying face-up on the ground outside their family grocery store, a dull pain shooting up through his back. The real pain, however, was his broken pride. Across the street, at Fujiwara Flower, he knew that _she_ was in there, watching him.

And he hated making a fool of himself in front of _her._

But she was just so damn perfect, you couldn't blame him for being distracted. She had been leaning on the counter, surrounded by an assortment of soft pink flowers (most of which, he didn't know the name of, even though for years she had been trying to teach him), quietly arranging a bouquet for old Tanaka-san. She had looked up when the delivery truck pulled up, waving to Tetsu when he came out and laughing into her palm when he tripped trying to get inside the back of the truck.

No, he couldn't tell his brother that his once little crush was getting worse – but as he groaned again when Takako came running out to see if he was okay, he heard his younger brother snort under his breath, signaling that he already knew.

...

After a long day of practice, you would think that the last thing Tetsu wanted to do was commute via train for twenty minute.

But you'd be wrong.

Captain and manager would tumble onto the almost empty train carriage, taking a seat far from the doors. Tetsu would take the window seat, scooting over to prop his tired body against the window, and Takako would slide in next to him, yawning and making Tetsu yawn in turn. Soon, as the train lulled forward, Takako would lean over, too fatigued to care, too isolated to be embarrassed, and rested her head on Tetsu's shoulder, closing her eyes and trusting Tetsu to wake her before her stop. Tetsu would furrow his brows, wondering how in the world he ended up in this entirely too perfect situation, and would try his best not to move, hoping his shoulder was a nice enough pillow for Takako.

When her stop came, he'd shake her knee until she awoke, she'd yawn at him, tell him to finish his homework and kiss him goodbye.

And as the train pulled forward again, leaving her behind, Tetsu couldn't help but to look forward to tomorrow's ride home.

…

"Do you like him?"

"You're an idiot."

"You like him, don't you?"

"If you ask me again, I'm going to smack you."

Back when she first met Tetsu, she would have never guessed that he was the jealous type and, normally, he wasn't. But after returning from watching his cousin's basketball game – and maybe there had been a few careless comments from Takako, saying how cute it was that said cousin was so nervous around girls – Tetsu wouldn't shut up about how she had fallen in love with his cousin.

"If you start dating him, family gatherings are going to be awk –"

Takako couldn't take it anymore - It had been cute at first, having an out-of-character Tetsu, but her patience quickly worn thin as he refused to drop it. And if Tetsu opened his mouth one more time, she really was going to dump him.

But she didn't want that, so she lunged forward, pressing herself against him, hooking her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her eye-level:

"Tetsuya, shut up. I don't like him. I like you." She leaned in, pressing her lips to his. "Plus, stupid, I don't like basketball players."

* * *

**I just really love Tetsu/Takako and omg, I know everyone loves Tetsu/Jun but I just love Captain/Manager so much. **

**Thanks for reading**


	2. Uncle Jun to the Rescue

**Just a short little thing one how Tetsu always runs to Jun whenever he needs help with Takako. Also he's scared of being a dadddy. **

**Enjoy!**

**...**

It wasn't the first time – and probably not the last – in which Jun had been enlisted in coming to Tetsu's rescue in the world of Fujiwara Takako.

Back when Tetsu had finally asked Takako if he could be her boyfriend, Jun had spent hours upon hours coaching Tetsu on what a proper first date as an official couple would be. Tetsu had all but black mailed him (it's a long story, one in which Jun would rather not admit to) to help him in giving him tips on what to say when it was just Takako and him alone together – it was no secret that Tetsu often struggled with coming up with the right thing to say at the right time, especially when it concerned Takako, or any member of the opposite sex, for that matter.

But somehow, in some strange twist of fate, it had all worked out. Jun's extensive knowledge into the magical and mysteriously word of girls – thanks mostly to not only his lovely sisters but to the volumes and volumes of flowery shoujo manga that he had consumed over the span of his eighteen years – had somehow worked.

Well, he assumed it worked, because ever since that first date, Tetsu and Takako have stayed together (it was a miracle really, considering she was stupid smart and pretty and Tetsu was just a stupid dork). In fact, it had been years, many years, that they had stayed together. The only reason he ever began to doubt Tetsu actually _using_ his advice came years after they had graduated high school, when Tetsu again used dubious tactics to get Jun to help him.

This time? For a marriage proposal.

Tetsu had been dredged in sweat the moment the idea came to him to ask Fujiwara Takako if he could forever remain at her side to the very moment the words actually left his mouth. It had been five in the morning, on a game day no less, that Jun had received the phone call. He had still been in bed, enjoying the company of his own flowering beauty, when he had groggily answered the phone to his long time BFF.

And boy, had that been a mistake.

It took literally a whole year for Jun to teach Tetsu proper proposal etiquette – how to ask Fujiwara-san permission to marry his daughter, how to pick out the ring, how to find the perfect location, what to wear, and, lastly, the exact words Tetsu should say when he pops the big question. Once they had gotten it all planned out (it was to be beautiful and straight out a love story! A nice dinner at a fancy restaurant downtown, a nice walk through the park when the flowers were at their peak bloom, a speech as to how Takako was always there to support Tetsu etc etc), Jun was all but heart broken when things didn't actually go according to plan.

"Let's get married."

It came out simple as that. They were at dinner, at some dinky little convenience store after Tetsu's team won the first set of games in the playoffs, drinking cheap beer and talking about the game. Jun was there, getting happily buzzed, Furuya and Miyuki were, for some reason, also there, invited by Tetsu after the game, and Takako, who Tetsu kept staring at ever since they left the stadium, sat to his left, smiling every time Tetsu reached out to push hair out of her face or wipe something off her cheek. The actual words – _Let's get married – _was said somewhere between an argument over the best way to bake a cake and a heated discussion on which brand of beer was number one, but was most surprising was the answer that came afterwards.

"Sure."

Just like that, Jun had gone home that night, pissed as hell and determined never ever to even think about helping Tetsu with anything again.

But, of course, Tetsu was hopeless and it was only a matter of time before he got another call.

Actually, this time, it wasn't exactly a call.

"What are you doing here? It's –" Jun looked back at the clock, "-Almost ten."

"Can I come in?"

"No, tell me what it is." Jun said, crossing his arms, hoping that Tetsu wasn't going to be difficult.

Tetsu scrunched his eyebrows together and rubbed the back of his head, obviously upset. His cheeks were rosy and his breath came out in little puffs – "Did you run here?"

"Yeah."

"God, you're an idiot, get in here." Jun moved to the side, sighing and pressing his thumbs against his pulsating temple as Tetsu stumbled forward. As Tetsu went into the living room, in his pocket, Jun's phone buzzed and he didn't need three guesses to figure out who it was from.

_When you've calmed him down, send him home._

"What the hell?" Jun mumbled under his breath – why was it expected that he was going to even take Tetsu in? Why was it so expected that he was going to walk Tetsu through whatever the hell was going on right now? Actually, this was probably his own fault for always babying Tetsu through any relationship milestone (he didn't know if it was surprising or not but Takako and Tetsu never really got into huge fights – so maybe this was just another first?). "So what the hell is wrong with you that you had to run all the way over here for?"

Tetsu looked _wrecked_ – sitting there, staring at a random spot in the floor, biting at his lip, his knee bouncing up and down like he was some sort of addict, and just watching him made Jun nervous.

"Well? Why are –"

"Takako is pregnant."

The ticking from the clock echoed throughout the room and it was only broken by Jun's obnoxious bark of a laugh. He took two long strides across the room and plopped down next to Tetsu, swinging his arm over his friend's shoulder.

"I'm relieved."

"What?" Tetsu jerked his head back, looking absolutely appalled. "What does that mean?"

"I thought you and Manager got into a fight or something," Jun laughed again, "This is much easier to deal with."

Tetsu looked like he was going to be sick: "How is this good?"

"Babies are cute."

Tetsu swallowed, looking terrified at whatever was running through his head at that moment: "All babies?"

Jun could guess where this was going - See, being friends with Tetsu for so many years, you found out that he was pretty predictable; in fact, he was entirely all too predictable. He was an open book and maybe that's why he and Takako worked so well – she was complicated, mature, responsible while Tetsu was simple, old-school, quiet – a man of action. She planned it all, made sure everything was just right, and Tetsu carried it out, maybe not exactly according to plan but they both ended up at the end goal together and that's all that mattered.

So Jun knew, even before the two had gotten married, that they would make great parents.

But the question was, great parents to sons or –

"What if it's a girl?" Tetsu mumbled into his hands, "I can't raise a girl."

"Are you really that scared?" Jun tried to keep it together but sometimes his friend was too cute. "She'll just turn out like Takako… and that's a good thing."

"But guys loved her in high school – I know what guys on the team said about her," Tetsu looked more and more horrified with every word that came out of his mouth, "I can't deal with that – I can do baseball, I have brothers, I have boy cousins, I can't _do_ girls."

Jun sighed, a little worried that Tetsu was so worked up over this – he never talked this much (as his marriage proposal attests to). "Listen, man, you'll be fine. Even if it's a girl, who says she can't play baseball – look at your goddamn wife, remember when she hit that ball over the fence when we were first years?"

"But boys." Tetsu's knees returned to bouncing about a hundred times per minutes. "Boys are going to be looking at my daughter."

"If that's your biggest concern, then you'll be fine."

It had gone for another hour – Tetsu just repeating himself over and over and Jun trying to reassure him that with a dad like him and a mom like Takako, no boy would ever dare to even look at his (unborn and hypothetical) daughter. By the time he had finally managed to take Tetsu to the door, he had mostly gotten the situation under control (there were also promises that every member of their year at Seido would become over-protective uncles to the Yuuki daughter).

"You're going to have to teach me how to tea party." Tetsu said seriously before Jun all but slammed the door in his face, reaching for his phone to text Takako that she owed him big time.

…

Nine months later, with many tea parties under his belt (Masuko's three year old daughter is now slightly sick of Uncle Jun and Uncle Tetsu due to the excessive amounts of tea parties she's hosted for them) and many late night phone calls to Jun worrying about impending doom of having a daughter (Takako is a sadist and decided to keep the gender a secret), Yuuki Takako went into labor.

And sixteen hours and ten minutes later, Isashiki Jun smacked Tetsu, new father a healthy little boy, upside the head because he had spent more time with a little pink crown and mini purple tea cup in his hand that he had ever liked (of course, until he had his own daughter that is) in the past nine months.

He didn't know why he even tried advising Tetsu anymore, considering literally everything he's ever said to help his friend, Tetsu's done the opposite.

But it all works out in the end and that's probably what makes it all okay.

…

**Thanks for reading !**


	3. Haruno the Romantic

**Yuuki Tetsuya wasn't outright romantic and Fujiwara Takako made sure that everyone was aware of this – especially Haruno, who somehow had this weird idea that the retired captain of the Seido Baseball Team was a goddamn Casanova. Luckily for Takako, Tetsu had a solution up his sleeve.**

**Enjoy. **

…

"Goodness, Tetsu-san is the perfect man, isn't he?" Haruno half whispered, half squealed as Tetsu got up from under the kotatsu to grab a glass of water for Takako. "He's so considerate."

Takako looked at her younger friend like she had just admitted to killing a man with her bare hands – "What are you taking about?"

It had been years. Many years, and yet, Takako could not understand why Haruno had this -verging on sick - delusion that her long-time boyfriend was a straight out of a romance novel.

Takako had some ideas, most of which circled back to the fact that Haruno was prone to amazingly sweet romantic stories that involved crazy love triangles – for a while there, she had been convinced that there had been some suspicious Shojo manga tension between Jun, Tetsu and herself (which of course, had been completely ridiculous because Jun and Takako would not be a successful match – Jun and Tetsu, on the other hand, Takako decided during their first year of high school, were a perfect mama-papa match. Neither thought that that was all that funny unfortunately). Although Haruno's romantic story tastes accounted for much of her projections, Takako knew that the reason she was often subject to hear about how romantic and amazing Tetsu-san apparently was, was because Haruno's own love life was less than stellar.

It had started all those years ago, when Haruno was even more of a fool than she is now – all clumsy with apologies spilling out of her mouth every few seconds.

Takako remembers clearly that night during the training camp, when all the girls set up camp in the weight room so they didn't have to commute every day in the sizzling weather. Talk, of course, went straight to the hot topic of every girls' high school sleepover: boys. The second years had teased Takako about the looks Tetsu-san gave her whenever she served him food during camp or when she handed him a damp towel after practice. Haruno had joined in, all sparkly-eyed and giggles, sighing happily when Takako told them that Tetsu often would walk around during clean up with her to help her carry equipment that he deemed too heavy for her.

And it had gone on like that for a few nights, with late night giggles about almost every boy on the team until one night when finally Takako asked if there was anyone that Haruno had taken a fancy to.

"Oh, I don't know," Haruno blushed, combing through her soft brown hair slowly, "Chris-senpai sure is attractive. Americans are always attractive though, aren't they?"

Sachiko had laughed into her sleeve, "Yeah join the club, everyone thinks that. Who else?"

Haruno blushed deeper and Takako found herself rolling her eyes: "I don't know…"

"A first year?" Sachiko prompted, elbowing Yui and smirking.

"Um, well…" Haruno said cautiously, keeping her eyes low, her blush spreading to her ears, "It may come as a surprise… but, um, Sawamura-kun…. Um, I…"

Each of the older girls all looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. It had been pretty obvious from their stand points that someone as simply romantic as Haruno would fall for someone as stupid as Sawamura.

After that night, they had all promised Haruno that they would try their best to help her gain the attention of the boy she liked, however, like Takako had feared ever since she realized Haruno had the hots for the local village idiot, this relationship was heading nowhere. Yes, Sawamura was sweet and never ignored nor mistreated the sweet little Yoshikawa Haruno, but he was never going to pull his head out of his own ass to realize that a perfectly wonderful potential girl was waiting for him.

After a year, Takako finally advised against pursuing the relationship and she had spent a whole night comforting her poor little kohai from her first hearbreak.

"He just always knows what you want," Haruno sighed dreamily, bringing Takako back to the real world from her memories of high school years, "I always knew he was romantic."

Takako barked a short laugh, trying not to overdo it, "Haruno, you know well as I do, that that is not true. Tetsu is not romantic."

"But he always –"

"No." Takako insisted, wiping the edges of her eyes and trying to breathe calmly, "He's an idiot."

"But remember that time when you slipped on that ice and he carried you all the way home or when he -"

"Haruno," Takako interrupted, although yes, that one time that Tetsu carried her after she fell was quite a nice memory, "you only think he's heaven sent is because you've dated absolute idiots ever since high school. You just haven't found the right guy yet."

"Don't say that, Takako-san!" Haruno flushed a soft of pink, "Raichi-kun was very good to me. So was that one boy from Tetsu-san's cousin's basketball team… what was his name? Hayakawa-kun?"

"Oh please, Haruno, both of those boys were horrible matches for you." Takako opened her mouth to dive into all the reasons why that hyper little shorty and that giant basketball player with the speech problem and how she needed a steady, clear-minded man with honor and responsibility, but the doorbell rang at that moment. Annoyed at the sound, Takako rubbed at her temples, already pushing herself up from the table to head towards the door.

However, as she was about to stand, Tetsu went by the doorway, glass of water in hand, and mumbled a quiet 'I got it,' allowing Takako to sit back down and continue talking to Haruno.

"See, Takako-san? He's a saint!" Haruno gestured to the doorway, "He gets the door! My father and younger brothers never get the door! He even had your water in hand, Takako-san!"

Takako felt like shaking her friend (as she often found herself wanting to do with this one), but she settled for yet another sigh of disbelief. "He isn't a prince charming."

"He's pretty perfect."

"Are you going to steal him away from me then?"

Haruno looked scandalized and she sat there with her mouth open, leaving Takako to burst out in laughter. As Haruno finally unfroze, going into an excited speech over how, although no, she wasn't going to steal Takako's boyfriend, she definitely thought Tetsu-san was just like a modern day prince charming. Takako kept laughing, holding her stomach and trying to wipe away the free falling tears. Both women were two absorbed in their discussion that neither noticed the new presence in the room.

"What's so funny?"

Both jumped at the deep, commanding voice that had seemingly came out of nowhere.

"Ah, Masashi-kun, I didn't know you were coming over." Takako tried to calm her breathing as she looked up at Tetsu's little brother. The years had given him even more height, his voice deeper and his confidence still outshone that of his brother's.

"Sorry to intrude, but brother said that you were had company." And with that less than helpful explanation as to why he had come all the way over to their house, Yuuki Masashi sat. "So what's so funny?"

Takako raised a brow at her (let's be honest) soon-to-be brother-in-law but smiled anyways. "Haruno thinks that your brother is the perfect man."

Takako couldn't help but to smile at the shocked face Masashi pulled at hearing of the content of their conversation. He immediately turned to face Haruno face on: "Is that true, Haruno-san? You like my brother?"

Haruno stuttered with a fluster, "Of course not! I just think that he's a very good man, especially for Takako-san!"

Masashi didn't look convinced and began relaying every story he knew of his brother's short comings, Takako nodding as she agreed (especially when Masashi began telling stories of Tetsu's forgetfulness and airheadness). Nonetheless, Takako smiled as Haruno tried to defend her notions of the character of Yuuki Tetsuya. When Masashi began comparing himself to Tetsu, Takako laughed into the back of hand, rising to find the man in question, only to see him standing just in the doorway, her long forgotten glass of water still in hand.

"You play dirty, Tetsu." Takako said, leaning into the arm that was suddenly around her shoulder.

"What? I can't help my baby brother?" Tetsu said quietly, lazily running his fingers across Takako's side. "He's liked her for a long time, you know. And he's a better man that I am."

Takako smiled, taking a sip of her water. She watched on as Masashi no doubt said something absolutely too bold for poor innocent Haruno's sweet constitution: "I just hope that he can convince her that – I'm sick of hearing about how great you are."

Tetsu grunted softly as Takako turned, her smile playful, and leaned up to give him a soft peck on the lips.

...

**LOL I don't know... I just like the idea that Haruno is a complete romantic and that she loves tetsutaka a lot and that masashi likes older women haha**

**anyways, thanks for reading! **

**Next i wanna write about testu getting jealous hehe **


	4. WWII AU - Part 1

**Okay - heads up, so this is a bit different - this is a World War II AU, so there are some more serious and some OOC moments. Also this is split into two chapters because I can't figure out how to end it but I wanna put it out there... ALso I know very little about Japanese hospitals during the war soo... LOL **

**But don't worry, this is still a CUTE SERIOUS ABOUT TAKATETSU so all ends well! Just a little angst to spice it all up. **

**...**

**Summary: After being attacked by enemy forces, Tetsu is forced to return home from war. However, he can't exactly return to the normalcy he longs for when there's an infection in his leg and is forced to take refugee in a hospital. Whilst recovering, Tetsu can't help but to notice a certain nurse with a major attitude and hair that would look so much prettier if it were longer. **

**Warnings: War, amputation, ptsd, hospitals**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

If it had been up to Tetsu, he'd still be in the countryside, enjoying the slow bud of spring, working in the fields with his friends, brother and many cousins. Mom's home cooked meals would be waiting for him and Masashi whenever they returned home while dad would be sitting out back, watching as the stars began to peak out from under the thick rolling clouds that often plagued the night sky this time of year. His bed, although, yes, it was shared with his brother, would be comfortable, smelling sweet of the home his mother had built all for them. It would give him warmth, like a cozy hug, and it would forever be one of the things he'd miss most of his home so far away, mostly due to the fact that the beds in the make shift hospital felt like a gravel road.

True, it was more comfortable than sleeping in that hot crowded ship he was subject to not just a week before. But, still, it was still pretty horrible, because not only was his neck always in a state of perpetual soreness, but his leg was constantly giving him excruciating pains that shot up and down his entire body – making it that much harder to find any ounce of comfort at all.

"You need to sleep." She always seemed to be annoyed with him. Ever since he got here five days ago, she's had nothing but curt words to offer him. He thought that since he was back home, people would at least treat him with a little bit more respect than a lowly, faceless soldier but this nurse was crushing his expectations day by day. "It isn't healthy to stay up all night."

As Tetsu watched her make sure the curtain was pulled tight, making sure that the other soldiers that actually slept at night wouldn't be disturbed by his soft bedside light, he couldn't help but to notice for the nth time how beautiful his nurse was. You couldn't blame him, either, for making that observation, considering he's been looking at nothing but large, smelly men for the past few years. Maybe it _was _the fact that she was the first female he's seen for awhile or maybe it was just that he enjoyed everything little thing about her, that made him watch her as he laid there. Although she worked twelve to fourteen hour shifts, her skin still glowed brightly, always bringing his eye to her. She had intense (yes, often annoyed whenever she was assigned to him) dark eyes that worked fast whenever doctors or other nurses barked orders out for her to follow. Her hands were delicate but firm, capable and strong in everything she did, whether it was replacing bandages, draw blood, clean up messes or even when moving patients to a more comfortable position.

The only thing that Tetsu didn't necessarily like about his nurse was her hair. It was too short for her – to clean cut, raw, foreign. If he could dream, he'd dream about her, out in the country somewhere, maybe on his family's farm or in town at the market, hair long, curled around her neck or loose in the twilight whenever he came home from the fields. But since he could no long close his eyes long enough to dream up such fantasies, all he saw was that stark short cut.

"Do you need stronger pain medicine?" She was standing next to his bed now, flipping through his clipboard. "I could talk to the doctor when he gets in –"

"My bed is really uncomfortable." Tetsu said quietly, folding his arms across his chest. "My neck is always sore."

She looked at him, her face calm – too calm, like the calm of the green sky right before a really bad storm: "Yuuki-san, this is not something I can help you with. Every patient gets the same mattress."

"Mine is really uncomfortable."

"Yuuki-san."

Her name was Fujiwara Takako; she had been the first face he saw when he woke up. One moment he was being blown out of the water and the next he was staring up a face that he had never expected to see. She had stayed by his side, silent, but her hand grasping his as he was brought into the recovery ward after his surgery. It had only been on that first night back in Japan, with her by his side, hand in hand, that he was able to fall asleep without dreaming of the past two year he'd spent in overseas, fighting as soldier for a cause he'd been asked to take upon himself.

It had been five nights since then and for every one of them, Fujiwara Takako has come to scold him about the importance of actually sleeping at night.

"I can't fall asleep."

She shook her head and let out an annoyed sigh: "You don't even try."

"Maybe if I had another pillow…" He couldn't help himself mumble, his arms still tightly folded across his chest like a pouting child.

Fujiwara glared at him, snapping the clipboard shut and smacking it against his – rock hard – mattress.

"Go to sleep Yuuki."

…

The infection had been bad, extremely bad. Already, his foot and shin had been all but shattered due to the explosion that had occurred while on a recon mission in enemy waters but as he was being brought back to his homeland, something had gone wrong – something hadn't been handled right and by the time he had arrived to port, he could barely breath at the pain that was shooting up through his leg – not to forget to mention the coursing pain all along the left side of his head and neck where shards of glass had lodged themselves into his skin.

They had stitched him up (Fujiwara did those honors after removing the makeshift stitches performed during his transfer) but there was nothing to save his infected leg.

Tetsu could still feel where the rest of his leg was supposed to be. He wondered how he was going to ever work in the fields again. Or face his mother, or joke around with his friends, or play pickup in the field outside his house.

"You aren't asleep again."

It was well past nightfall and Tetsu had been waiting for Fujiwara to show up. For the past two weeks, he had probably slept a total of eight hours – short twenty minute naps was all he could handle before being thrown awake in a cold sweat and a spinning room, void of all the loud, piercing noises that were running through his head. So for the past two weeks, Fujiwara had spent half of her shift by Tetsu's bed, either arranging documents for her boss or speaking softly with Tetsu about trivial matters such as the weather or the colorful patients she dealt with on the daily.

Tonight, was no different.

"I am uncomfortable."

"Poor baby," she shot back quickly, checking his bandages to make sure there was no bleeding. "Want a glass of warm milk."

Tetsu would have pouted if he were younger or if the teasing had been committed by his brother – so instead he just huffed once and waited for Fujiwara to stop performing her routine checks on him. He had quickly realized that she liked teasing him about his gravel-like mattress, often challenging him by saying that she had to sleep on a straw-pile only covered with a sheet.

"Did you at least take a nap today?" Fujiwara sighed, as if she already knew the answer. She sat on the little bench that the doctor often sat at when he examined the tender stitching of what was left of his leg.

Tetsu just shook his head.

For the first time, Fujiwara gave him a look that, yeah, was still skeptical but had something hidden underneath it, something Tetsu would have missed if he wasn't stuck in bed, watching nothing but the wall all day. Finally, Fujiwara sighed, rubbing her hands together, and pulling herself closer, "I can't either."

Tetsu was never good at talking; back home, his brother was the one that talked for both of them, he'd just sit there, content and happy with going along with Jun, Masashi, or Miyuki's schemes, even though he knew form the start that it was him that would be appointment as leader. But although he was never much of a talker, Jun, his brother, or even that demonic four eyes weren't here and there was something about Fujiwara Takako, this war, his missing leg, that made him want to know.

"Why not?"

She shrugged her lean frame: "I see a lot, you know? I don't see what happens out there but I see what it does to all of you." Fujiwara paused, as if still battling whether or not to go on. She looked up to see if Tetsu was getting angry or something with her for comparing what she in here to what he did out there, but when she was met with just a quietly blank stare, she found herself continuing: "I've seen more brain than I've ever wanted to. It's gross and scary and I can't eat. I've seen people cry for their mothers or their wives but what's worse is when they cry for their daughters. I've seen infected legs get, well, I've seen your leg."

Her eyes lowered and her hands twisted the thin blanket that barely kept him warm at night. And they sat like that, Tetsu watching her quietly, Fujiwara breathing deep as if she really was asleep, for what seemed like hours. After a while, Tetsu was unaware of it all – the coughs, the groans, the soft click of other nurses' heels, and all he could hear was Fujiwara's breathing. After a while, he wondered if he too was asleep. Their little bubble, however, was broken when the patient next to him cried out so loud, Fujiwara jumped up so quickly, her stool was kicked over.

Later that night, when it was more morning than night, after Fujiwara had taken care of the patient, often walking by with bloody bandages and all the clean towels she could muster, Tetsu had stopped her before she ended her shift:

"I'm sorry my leg kept you up at night."

She had stared at him for a minute, in complete shock, before a smile that Tetsu had never seen before spread across her face – an unexpected laugh bubbled from mouth. She turned on her heel, still laughing, and Tetsu sat back and smiled.

…

"Thank you, Takako-chan." He heard a patient with an eye patch and missing hand mumbled after Fujiwara had helped change him into a fresh set of clothes.

"It was no problem at all, Matsumoto-san," Fujiwara bowed, "Just let me know if you need anything else."

Tetsu watched as she moved on to the next bed – two more to go until she came to his – and again, the man called her by her first name. She just smiled and continued on, stopping to speak with one of the other nurses for a moment before running to grab a fresh blanket for the patient next to him.

"Can I call you Takako?"

She stopped halfway through mid-wrapping his leg to look at him.

"Absolutely not."

Tetsu sat straight in bed, making Fujiwara _Takako _groan in frustration as some of his wrappings came unraveled.

"Why do they get to call you Takako and I can't?"

Fujiwara glared up at him as she tried to salvage her work.

"It's a different situation."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"If you don't know, don't ask."

"But –"

"Stop moving."

"I'm not –"

"Stop."

He watched as finished wrapping his leg and began scribbling in his clipboard. Before she left, Tetsu looked up at her and said simply: "You can call me Tetsu. Everybody does."

She stared at him like he noticed she did a lot, like he was weird or something, but she didn't burst out in that secret smile or a cute laugh. She just stared at him and he thought that it was going to be the end of that when she turned to leave without evening blinking. But as she set the clipboard back down on the bedside table, she sighed out silently:

"Fine."

* * *

**End of Part 1 (of 2).  
**

**Please let me know whatcha think and thanks for reading!**


End file.
